Welcome to MyCompanionBox: Allison’s Story
I grew up with a father who was slightly overweight and a mother who had been overweight when she was younger but had lost the weight. Each of those had a
different impact on me.
My Almond Mom
My mom is an almond mom. She was so concerned about gaining weight that she
would tell me to drink a glass of water when I was hungry, or have some broccoli. We were not allowed to leave the table until we had two vegetables and a fruit with each meal, and I was limited on sweets and never had soda or chips growing up. But I don’t fault her- she was trying to prevent me from the bullying and negative comments she received as an overweight child. But it sticks in the back of my mind still, years and years later, that it is VERY BAD to be overweight.
My Middle of the Road Dad
My dad was the opposite- he was a little overweight and had what we would call “the dad bod.” However, within, he had slightly high cholesterol, slightly high blood pressure and family history of heart disease. But because he was never “obese” or exceptionally bad in any of those categories, he was never put on medication.
Homecoming
I still remember it vividly, it was my homecoming weekend my senior year of college. I was our Homecoming Queen candidate, and so I was super excited to be out on the field for the game. However, about half an hour before, I received a phone call from my sister that told me my dad had a heart attack, one that is normally referred to as a “widow-maker” because the survival rate was so low. Fortunately, my dad received very quick and specific medical care, and he came through, having been defibrillated 20 times in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
After having all this hit in my formative years, I spend a large number of years trying any and every type of diet in the book. I did Atkins, Keto, juice fasting, medications like Phentermine, Contrave, drugstore diet pills and Alli (ooooh, that one was awful). So my weight we fluctuate all over the place. But finally, something happened that made me jump onto a GLP-1.
Twenty-two years after Homecoming
About twenty-two years after homecoming, my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary the Saturday before the actual day with all their best friends and had a wonderful time. On the day of the anniversary, my dads heart began to fail and two weeks later he passed away. Dealing with this was difficult for me, COVID was still a thing and I had recently moved across the country so I didn’t have the same support network. I decided to go onto some medications to manage my grief, which made me gain about 30 pounds in a year (after what was probably an extra 10 already). The more I gained, the more I ate because I felt so bad about gaining weight. I still thought I looked okay, but then a stranger was kind enough to drive it home to me.
Online Dating
I decided to get on some online dating sites to try and meet people in my new town. I was having issues connecting with many people, but then came the day when a guy asked me if I was a “fluffy,” and there was something about that comment that hit me deep. I started looking online for ways to lose weight, and it was when Wegovy and Ozempic were basically out of stock, but a month later Mounjaro came out and I jumped on it, and I’ve been on this wild adventure ever since, never looking back, growing in my confidence in putting myself out there, dating, and in general becoming a better version of myself.
By the time I met Sarah, I was already at my goal weight, so I feel like she looked at me a little suspicious when I told her I was fat. Luckily, I have some bad pictures I showed her that helped convince her. It brought us closer together, and even though we didn’t work together, we gravitated to each other for companionship, friendship and support outside our day to day.
As Sarah mentioned, we were both worn down by our current work, and the idea of
doing something fresh and out of our comfort zone became exciting to us, and we haven’t slowed down since then!
Lastly, I want to make sure that Sarah doesn’t cut herself short- she’s now lost almost 110 points on her GLP-1! GO SARAH!
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